The present invention relates to a loading station for a storage frame wherein the storage frame serves for temporarily holding and transporting rod-like elements, in particular smoking rods, on which sausage-shaped products, like sausages, are stored.
In an already known production line for producing sausage-like products, like sausages, a filling tube is provided for feeding a packing material or tubular casing, respectively, with, for example sausage meat, wherein the tubular casing is closed at one end facing in the filling direction by a first clip. After the filling operation is concluded, the tube-like casing is finally closed by a second clip. If the sausage is later to be hung up, for example for the purposes of smoking or storage, a suspension loop is fed thereto in such a way that, when the first or second clip is attached, it is embraced by the respective clip and is thus secured to the sausage. The term loops in accordance with this invention is used to denote all at least partially flexible means, by way of which articles can be hung up.
After the filling process, the sausage-like products can be subjected to further processing. In the case of sausages as the sausage-like products, this could be a smoking process for the purpose of which the sausages are brought into a smoking chamber. For this, the sausages have to be transported to the end of a conveyor and there taken over by an automatic hanging line, in which the sausages are hung up on a rod-like element, such as a smoking rod, at their loops one after another in such a way that, as far as possible, they do not touch each other. Afterwards, the smoking rods are transported to a storage frame which would have rollers for transporting the storage frame with the smoking rods into the smoking chamber. In this conjunction, a robotic device can be provided for removing the smoking rods from the storage frame and/or inserting the smoking rods into the storage frame.
A robotic device being part of an automatic sausage production line for inserting or removing rod-like elements into or from a storage frame is known from EP patent application 1 994 829.
In the production of sausage-like products using a production line, there can be a great variety of machines being components of the respective production line. Said machines may vary in their size, in the rate of production or in the size of products to be manufactured. Moreover, there can also be a variation as to the kind of used rod-like elements on which the sausage-like products are to be stored, and the kind of storage frames to which the rod-like elements are to be fed or from which they have to be removed. Even if identical rod-like elements are used, depending on the kind of sausage-like products and their further treatment, like smoking or boiling for sausages as sausage-like products, it might be necessary that the rod-like elements together with the sausage-like products hanging thereon, have to be placed at specific positions inside a storage frame. As already mentioned, there can also be used a great variety of storage frames, wherein these storage frames may be standardized with regard to their geometrical dimensions or may also be produced individually or a combination of both types of storage frames can be used.
Subject to the manufacturer of the storage frames, the storage frames may vary in size regarding the above-mentioned geometrical dimensions. Moreover, in use, storage frames may be damaged, individually adapted or repaired. Thus, the tray rails on which the rod-like elements are to be placed, may be modified and their position may be changed.
While inserting a rod-like element together with the sausage-like products hanging thereon into a storage frame on a so-called loading station, said rod-like element may butt against the storage frame since, for example, the size of said storage frame has been modified due to adaption, repair or damage. As a result thereof, the sausage-like products may fall off the smoking rod or may be destroyed. This can in particular happen, if a robotic device is used for inserting rod-like elements into or removing them from the storage frame, since a robotic device operates automatically based on a software program.